Conjugations
All six tenses and their examples are shown below. Use the links above to jump to a tense. English translations use the meaning “to close.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ferme | I close | |
| tu | fermes | you close | |
| il / elle / on | ferme | he / she / it closeson: we close / one closes | |
| nous | fermons | we close | |
| vous | fermez | you close | |
| ils / elles | ferment | they close |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul ferme la porte du jardin.
Paul closes the garden gate.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai fermé | I closed | |
| tu | as fermé | you closed | |
| il / elle / on | a fermé | he / she / it closedon: we closed / one closed | |
| nous | avons fermé | we closed | |
| vous | avez fermé | you closed | |
| ils / elles | ont fermé | they closed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a fermé la porte du jardin.
Yesterday, Paul closed the garden gate.
The passé composé uses avoir. The table shows the unmarked participle; agreement with a preceding direct object is outside this reference.
Back to tense navigation ↑Imperfect Imparfait
Past habits, descriptions, and actions in progress.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | fermais | I used to close | |
| tu | fermais | you used to close | |
| il / elle / on | fermait | he / she / it used to closeon: we used to close / one used to close | |
| nous | fermions | we used to close | |
| vous | fermiez | you used to close | |
| ils / elles | fermaient | they used to close |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul fermait la porte du jardin.
Back then, Paul used to close the garden gate.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | fermerai | I will close | |
| tu | fermeras | you will close | |
| il / elle / on | fermera | he / she / it will closeon: we will close / one will close | |
| nous | fermerons | we will close | |
| vous | fermerez | you will close | |
| ils / elles | fermeront | they will close |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul fermera la porte du jardin.
Later, Paul will close the garden gate.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | fermerais | I would close | |
| tu | fermerais | you would close | |
| il / elle / on | fermerait | he / she / it would closeon: we would close / one would close | |
| nous | fermerions | we would close | |
| vous | fermeriez | you would close | |
| ils / elles | fermeraient | they would close |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul fermerait la porte du jardin.
Paul would close the garden gate.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ferme | (that) I close | |
| tu | fermes | (that) you close | |
| il / elle / on | ferme | (that) he / she / it closeson: (that) we close / one closes | |
| nous | fermions | (that) we close | |
| vous | fermiez | (that) you close | |
| ils / elles | ferment | (that) they close |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul ferme la porte du jardin.
It is possible that Paul closes the garden gate.
French forms omit the subject. Use j’ before a vowel sound. Vous is polite singular or plural “you”; on often means “we,” or the general “one.” English wording depends on the context: passé composé can also use “have,” and the imperfect can describe an ongoing action. Subjunctive translations here follow “it is possible that.”
Meaning & usage
- to shut
- to close
- to do up (of clothing)
English glosses are a starting point. The meaning of a verb can change with context, a preposition, or se. Read the full dictionary entry ↗
Meanings and simple conjugation forms adapted from English Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki.org / Wiktextract. Passé composé forms combine the source auxiliary and past participle. Frequency scores from wordfreq 3.1.1 by Robyn Speer and contributors. Adapted data is available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Entry source · Sources, download & limitations